One way to improve education: communication. For Pinecrest (FL) Vice Mayor Katie Abbott, that means not only regularly connecting with the school board, but also with students. Abbott co-coordinates the Pinecrest Youth Advisory Council, a group of 24 students in grades 8-12 across public and private schools who engage in government, volunteering and education, tackling issues from the environment to preparing for college.
This may be one of the saddest facts you read in a while: One in three moms in the U.S....
An Electoral “Children’s Wave”
Q&A with Children's Funding Project Founder Elizabeth Gaines
On November 3rd, seven early childhood ballot initiatives went before voters in cities and counties around the nation. All seven...
Most of us have heard of the “summer slide” in which children lose some of the lessons they’ve learned during...
Those of us who watched too much TV in the 1970s probably remember commercials extolling long-distance phone calls as The...
Elliot’s Provocations unpacks current events in the early learning world and explores how we can chart a path to a...
Vaccine distribution is under way, but the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic carry on, and the fallout will continue in...
Mighty, Mighty Bosses
Florida Executives Apply Peer Pressure to Advance Early Childhood
“We as a nation are taking parenting seriously for the first time,” economic researcher Martha Gimbel recently told The Washington...
“We’re not going to grow as a nation without a strong system of care,” Gladys Montes stated at the outset...
Why Don’t We Just Do That?
Over Cocktails, Restaurateurs Hatch a Plan for Literacy
Three years ago, Amanda and John Horne, owners of Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Bradenton, Florida, heard that 51 percent of children in their local Manatee County school system couldn’t read at grade level by third grade. They were appalled.
“This was horrific,” Amanda says. “We had no idea that this was an issue.”
Over cocktails one night, Amanda and John wondered what they could do. Their clientele is largely composed of older “grandparent-type” people. They have four restaurants and a mailing list of more than 24,000 customers. What if they could pair children up with a grandparent figure or somebody who cares about them, read with them and maybe instill them with a love of reading?
